Coin switch



April 29, 1952 J. J. TOOLAN ETAL COIN SWITCH 2 SHEETS--SHEET 1 FiledJune 12, 1946 @GGGGGGG INVENTORS April 29, 1952 J. J. TOOLAN ET AL2,594,826

COIN SWITCH Filed June 12, 1946 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 INVENTOR.

Patented Apr. 29, 1952 COIN SWITCH John J. Toolan and Alfred E. Reiman,Chicago,

Ill., assignors, by mesne assignments, to Rock- Ola ManufacturingCorporation, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application June12, 1946, Serial No. 676,182

2 Claims.

This invention relates in general to e ectric switches, and moreparticularly to improvements in coin operated switches.

In practically any type of installation in which a coin operated switchis employed. it will be subjected to abuse by some of the users of theequipment with which it is associated, and attempts will be made tocause its operation by jarring or shaking, as by the application ofsharp blows to the switch housin or casing enclosing the same.

A principal object of the instant invention, therefore, is the prov sionof an electric coin switch which is operable only by a particular typeof coin properly deposited. and which is not operable by jarring orshaking or by forces applied exteriorly to its enclosing and supportingstructure.

Another important object of the invention is to provide such a switchwhich neverthele s will be actuated in positive manner by a coin of theparticular denomination for which it is desi ned, without impe ingtravel of the coin therepast.

A further important object of the invention is the provision in a coinoperated swit h of means normally operable to retain the switch in openposition and to resist closing thereof, exce t in response to the actionof a particular type of coin properly deposited, which means al ofunctions, after the deposit of such a coin, to close the switch and tomaintain the same closed.

Another object of the invention is the provision of such a switch inwhich the proper application of only a minimum Weight is necessary torelease such means for closing the switch, while said means at the sametime functions to apply a maximum closing pressure to the contacts ofthe switch.

A further object of the invention is to provide solenoid means in such aswitch which, when energ zed, opens the switch and reconditions themeans which was holding the switch closed to perform its other functionof retaining the switch in open position and resisting any attemptedclosing thereof except that resulting from the deposit of a proper coin.

Another object of this invention is the provision of such a switch inwhich the solenoid means for opening the switch is electricallyconnected in series with the switch contacts, and wherein the contactsare therefore so constructed and arranged as to maintain the flow ofcurrent to energize said solenoid switch opening means until the latterhas overcome the switch closing function of the means which normallymaintains the switch in open position.

Numerous other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparentas it is better understood from the following description, which, whentaken in connection with the accompanying drawings, discloses apreferred embodiment thereof.

In the drawings;

Figure 1 is a vertical elevation of a Wall box or remote control unitfor an automatic phonograph, with parts broken away to show a coinoperated switch embodying the features of the instant invention mountedtherein;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of the switch of Fig. 1 in closedposition;

Fig. 3 is a detail elevation illustrating the path of travel taken bythe free end erated lever of the switch;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially on the line 44of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is a vertical elevation similar to Fig. 2; with parts brokenaway, and showing the switch in open position.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, a

coin operated switch embodying the features of this invention isdesignated generally in Fig. 1 by reference numeral ll, and isillustrated therein as comprising part of a wall box or remote controlunit II! which also includes a plurality of selector buttons or keys l3,record identifying indices I respectively associated with each of theselector keys, a coin receiving slot or coin chute l5, and a coinmechanism or slug rejector N3 of any one of the types commonly in usefor detecting and rejecting spurious coins deposited in the coin chuteI5 and delivering genuine coins of the proper denomination to a coinreceiving slot I 1 (Figs. 2 and 4) forming a part of the switch 1 I.as'a remote control actuating mechanism for an automatic phonograph insimilar manner to that illustrated in U. S. Letters Patent No.2,389,327, issued November 20, 1945, but it will be understood that theswitch ll may be used with any other type of coin controlled mechanismdesired.

The swtch assembly H comprises a main supporting plate [8 having asubstantially U-shaped guide plate i9 secured in any suitable manner tothe rear face thereof to define therewith the open-ended coin receivinchute or slot IT. A horizontally disposed stud shaft 2| extends forwardly through a suitable aperture in the supporting plate I8 and isriveted or otherwise suitably secured at its rear end thereto. Pivotallymounted on the stud shaft 2i, by means of an of the coin op- The wallbox I2 is intended for useelongated hub 22, is a link 23 which issecured in any desired manner to the hub and extends downwardly belowthe supporting plate I8. The outer or forward end of the hub 22 is heldagainst axial movement on the shaft 2I by a split washer or keeper 24mounted in a suitable annular groove in the shaft. At its lower end, thelink 23 carries a stud 25 upon which the lower portion of a two-armedlever 26 is pivotally mounted, the lever being spaced forwardly from thelink 23 by a washer 21 mounted on the stud 25 (Fig. 4).

The longer arm of the lever 26 terminates at its outer end in arearwardly extending finger or coin-actuated pawl 28 which passes freelythrough aligned slots 29 in the supporting plate I8 and 3| in the guideplate I3 (Fig. 4), so as to be disposed in the coin receiving slot H inthe path of movement of any coin delivered to the latter by the slugrejector I3. A coil spring 32 is connected at its low-er end to thelever 23 between its pivotal connection to the stud 25 and the finger28, and is connected at its upper end to a horizontally disposed shelfor retaining bracket 33 formed integrally with and bent forwardly fromthe supporting plate I8. It will be noted from the drawings that thepoint of attachment of the lower end of spring 32 to lever 26 is spacedhorizontally to one side (to the right in Figs. 2 and 5) of the linksupporting shaft 2I, and that the point at which the upper end of thespring is anchored to the shelf 33 is spaced from shaft 2I on the otherside or to the left thereof, for a purpose which later will be morefully apparent. Relative movement be tween the lever 26 and link 23 islimited by a pin 34 carried by the link 23 and extending forwardlythrough an aperture 35 in the lever 26.

The shorter arm of the lever 26 is bent horizontally and forwardly fromthe main body thereof to provide a shelf 36 to which is riveted acontact holder or supporting plate 3? of any suitable non-conductingmaterial. Riveted to the under surface of the non-conducting holder 31and having its outer edge flush with the outer or left-hand edge thereofis a movable contact plate 38. An angularly disposed contact holder orsupporting plate 39 of suitable non-conducting material is riveted atits upper edge to a shelf 4I bent forwardly from, and formed integrallywith, a solenoid supporting bracket 42 which, in turn, is attached tothe main plate I3. A stationary contact plate 43 is riveted to the uppersurface of the holder 39, with the lower edges of these two membersbeing flush with each other.

The bracket 42 is also provided with a forwardly extending shelf 44 forsupporting a solenoid 45 and, together with the shelf 33, retaining thesolenoid fixed in desired position, wherein the lower end of the plunger43 of the solenoid is in operative relationship with the contact holder31 carried by the lever 26. A bracket 47 which, if desired, may besecured to the supporting plate I8. by one of the screws employed toattach the solenoid bracket 42 thereto, carries a strip 43 of suitablenon-conducting material upon which are mounted terminal members 43 and5!. A lead or wire 52, comprising one side of the circuit involved, issoldered or otherwise suitably secured to the stationary contact plate43. The movable contact plate 38 is electrically connected by a lead 53to the lower terminal 5| which, in turn, is connected by a' lead 54 toone side of the solenoid coil 45. The other side of the solenoid 43 isconnected by a lead 55 to the upper terminal 49, to which is alsoconnected a lead 53 (Fig. 1)

comprising the other side of this local switch circuit.

As has been noted hereinbefore, the coin switch Ii above described isadapted to initiate the operation of any desired coin controlledmechanism, upon presentation of a suitable coin to the receiving slotIT, by closing the normally open circuit between the leads '52 and 56.In the embodiment of the invention herein illustrated, the switch i! isshown incorporated in the remote control unit I2 of an automaticphonograph similar to that disclosed in U. S. Letters Patent No.2,389,327. In the operation of such a phonograph, it is not onlynecessary that a proper coin be deposited to initiate a playing cycle,but also it is desirable that a selection be made of a particular recordto be played by operation of one of the selector buttons I3.Consequently, a normally open selector switch is provided (not shownherein) to which the lead 56 is connected and which is closed byoperation of any one of the selector buttons I3. This switch correspondsto the switch 324 in said Patent No. 2,389,327. With this arrangement,deposit of a proper coin closes the normally open switch I I, in amanner to be described in detail hereinafter, and subsequent actuationof any selector button I3 completes the circuit through the switch II(by closing the selector switch corresponding to switch 324 of saidpatent), so that operation of the phonograph mechanism controlled by theunit I2 is properly initiated. Such completion of the circuit betweenleads 52 and 53 also energizes the coil of solenoid 45 to cause delayedopening of the switch I I, in a manner to be described in detailhereinafter, and restoration of the switch I I to its normally openposition. It will b understood, of course, that this sequence ofoperation of the switch II and any selector button I3 may be reversed,if the usual latching mechanism is incorporated in the unit I2 forretaining any selector button in depressed position until selection inthe phonograph of the record identified thereby has been accomplished.However, since it is intended that the switch I I may be employed toinitiate operation of any desired coin controlled mechanism, suchphonograph mechanism is not illustrated herein, and reference is made tosaid Patent No. 2,389,327 for a complete disclosure thereof. It willalso be readily understood that the lead 52 and the lead 56, or theopposite side of the selector switch controlled by the buttons I3 and towhich lead 56 is connected, are connected, respectively, in well-knownmanner to the opposite sides of a suitable source of electrical energy,not illustrated herein, for energizing the coil of solenoid 45 whencontact plate 38 is in engagement with contact plate 43.

The switch II is illustrated in its normally open position in Figs. 1and 5, wherein the movable contact holder 3'! is held in engagement withthe lower edge of the stationary contact holder 39 by the spring 32, andthe finger 23 of the lever 26 is retained in engagement with the upperends of the slots 29 and 3|. The application of force to the lever 26 bythe spring 32 is sufficient to prevent any movement of the lever byjarring or shaking, as by forces applied from the exterior to thesupporting plate I3. Due to the pivotal connection of the lever 25 andlink 23, however, the weight of a coin against the finger 28 of thelever is sufficient to overcome this retaining function of the spring32. Coins deposited in the slot I5 will travel through the slug rejectorIS in well-known manner, the func tion of the latter being to eliminatespurious coins and to deliver to the coin receiving slot I! only genuinecoins of the proper denomination. As illustrated in Fig. 2, suchproperly delivered coins will encounter the finger 28 to move the lever26 downwardly. The path of movement of the finger 28 is illustrated inFig. 3 by the broken line 51, the outer or right hand portion of whichshows the movement imparted thereto by a coin passing through thereceiving slot l1. Since the outer end of the receiving slot I1 is cutaway or open, the coin falls outwardly therefrom as illustrated in Fig.2, releasing the lever 26 for return movement by the spring 32. Duringthis downward movement of the lever 26, the stationary contact holder 39initially functions as an additional pivot for the lever and the movablecontact holder 3! slides up and over the lower edge thereof. At the sametime, the weight of the coin on the finger 28 is such as to cause theinitial downward movement of the lever 26 to be about its pivot 25 andrelative to the link 23, as limited by the pin 34 extending through theaperture 35, and thereafter to be about the pivot provided by the studshaft 2|. As soon as the finger 28 is released by virtue of the coinfalling therefrom and out of the receiving slot H, the spring 32 swingsthe lever26 and link 23 to the left and the finger 28 upwardly in acombined motion about the pivots 25 and 2| to the intermediate positionshown in full lines in Fig. 2. The two 6xtreme positions of the lever26, comprising its uppermost or normal position of Fig. 5, and itslowermost position, are illustrated in broken lines in Fig. 2.

In the intermediate position: shown in full lines in Fig. 2 to which thelever 26 is moved by the spring 32 upon release of the finger 28 by acoin passing through the slot ll, the movable contact plate 38 isengaged with the stationary contact plate 43 to close the local switchcircuit from the lead 52 through the leads and 38. Since there has beenno current in this local switch circuit during the above describedmovement of the lever 26 from its position of Fig. 5 to that of Fig. 2,the plunger 46 of the solenoid 45 has been resting freely upon themovable contact holder 31 and is therefore carried upwardly to itsposition of Fig. 2.

Closing .of the local circuit as above described will have no immediateeffect in the control unit herein illustrated until, or unless, one ofthe selector buttons l 3 has been depressed. Such actuation of aselector button l3, as previously noted, will close the selector switchto which the lead 56 is attached so that the coil of the solenoid=45will be energized. It will, of course, be under stood that in otherinstallations than that herein illustrated, the circuit involved maycomprise only the leads 52 to 56, with the leads 52 and 56 directlyconnected to the coin controlled mocha: nism with which the switch isassociated. In any event, the coil of the solenoid 45 is connected inseries with the switch contacts 38, 43. I

Energization of. the coil of the solenoid '45 causes the plunger 46thereof to be moved down wardly in well-known manner from its positionof Fig. 2 to that of Fig. 5. During the initial portion of suchmovement, the movable contact plate 38 will be slid along the uppersurface of the stationary contact plate 43, moving the lever 26downwardly and to the right, the finger 28 thereof taking the path ofmovement illustrated in Fig. 3 by the toothed portion of the broken line51. During such movement of the lever 26 by the plunger 46 of thesolenoid, the local circuit through the solenoid will thus be maintainedby the contact plates 38 and 43 to enable the solenoid to perform itsfunction of releasing the movable contact 38 and its supporting plate 31from the stationary contact plate 43. At this point the circuit will bebroken and the solenoid 45 deenergized. During such releasing movement,the lever 26 has been moved in a clockwise direction about the pivot 25relative to the link 23. Immediately upon release of the movable contactplate 38 from the stationary-contact 43, the spring 32 functions toreturn the lever 26 relative to the link 23 and to move the latter in aclockwise direction about its pivot-2|- to bring the parts back to theirnormal position of Fig. 5, wherein the movable contact holder 31 restsagainst the lower'edge of the stationary contact holder 39 and thefinger 28 engages the upper ends of the slots 29 and 3|.

From the above description, it will be seen that the spring 32 normallyfunctions to retain the switch in open position by maintaining the partsin their position of Figs. 1 and 5 and resists any attempt to close thesame except in response to the action of a particular type of coinproperly presented to the receiving slot l1. At the same time, only aminimum weight needs to be applied to the finger 28 to overcome thisfunction of the spring 32 and to so reposition the parts of the switchmechanism as to enable the spring 32 to then function to apply a maximumclosing pressure to the contacts of the switch. The resultingenergization of the solenoid 45 overcomes this closing pressure of thejs pring 32 and moves the parts of the switch mechanism until themovable contact has been disengaged from the stationary contact, whichmovement also reconditions the spring 32 to again perform its other ornormal function of retaining the switch in open position and resistingany attempted closing thereof, except that resulting from the deposit ofa proper coin.

It is thought that the invention and many of its attendant advantageswill be understood from the foregoing description, and it will beapparent that various changes maybe made in the form, construction andarrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the formhereinbefore described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

We claim:

1. A coin switch, comprising a pair of relatively movable contacts, astationary non-conducting member supporting one of said contacts andhaving one edge flush with an edge of said contact. a movablenon-conducting member carrying the other said contact and having oneedge flush with an edge of the latter and disposed in parallelrelationship to said one edge of said stationary member, a supportinglink pivotally mounted for movement normal to said parallel edges, abell-crank lever pivotally mounted on said link for movement parallelthereto and having one arm supporting said movable member, a springconnected to a second arm of said lever for normally maintaining saidedges of said nonconducting members in engagement with each other toprevent unauthorized engagement of said contacts with each other, theend of said second arm of said lever being operable by a coin againstthe action of said spring to disengage said edges of said members, andmeans for permitting limited relative movement between said lever andsaid link to enable such coin-actuated disengagement of said edges ofsaid members, saidspring being automatically operable, following suchdisengagement and passage of the deposited coin out of engagement withsaid second arm, to close said switch by actuating said lever and saidlink to cause and resiliently maintain engagement between said contacts.

2. A coin switch according to claim 1, including a solenoid connected inseries with said contacts and operable against said movablenonconducting member, when energized, to swing said lever relative tosaid link against the action of said spring to disengage said contactsand permit said spring to move said non-conducting members into normalengagement, such opening of the switch by said solenoid therebyautomatically de-energizing the solenoid.

JOHN J. TOOLAN. ALFRED E. REIMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,152,806 Green Sept. 7, 19151,678,554 Burgess July 24, 1928 1,861,384 Fleischer May 31, 19321,917,445 Hansen July 11, 1933 2,392,511 Thompson et al. Jan. 8, 1-946 7FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 357,554 Great Britain 1- Sept. 22,1931

